William Boswell Lowther

“ As a youth Etheridge was thoughtful and studious. He was privately educated and began to preach in 1826. Towards the end of 1827 the president of the conference sent him to Hull to assist the Rev. Dr. Beaumont, whose health had broken down. At the Bristol conference in August 1831 Etheridge was received into full connexion, being then second minister in the Brighton circuit. During that year he married Eliza Middleton, by whom he had one child, a daughter, who under her father's teaching became a remarkable Hebrew scholar and linguist. ”

“ ENTWISLE, JOSEPH, (1767–1841) , methodist minister, second son of William Entwisle and his wife, Ellen Makin, who were members of a presbyterian church in Manchester, was born there on 15 April 1767, being one of five sons who grew up to manhood. He was taught at the free school connected with the old presbyterian chapel, Manchester. At the age of fourteen Entwisle joined the methodists, and made diligent use of a good library at the preacher's house in Oldham Street. ”

“ Everett then took the lead in an agitation against the conference which shook the entire Wesleyan community, and resulted in the loss of over two hundred thousand members and adherents. Some of the seceders joined others who had previously left the ‘old body’ (so called) , and formed a new sect, which they styled the ‘United Methodist Free Church.’ This was in 1857, and Everett was elected the first president of their assembly, which met at Rochdale in July of that year. ”

“ Without formally separating from the Anglican church, he joined the Moravian brotherhood in England, and became a prominent member of their Missionary Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel. His adoption of some of their mystical doctrines led to a severance from the Wesleys, although the personal friendship between them remained unbroken. ”

“ ATHERTON, WILLIAM (1775–1850) , Wesleyan minister, was born at Lamberhead Green, near Wigan in Lancashire, in 1775. At the age of 21 he entered the Wesleyan ministry on the Grimsby circuit, and his fresh and original style of preaching gave him a place among the most famous preachers of England in the first half of this century. He worked under the direction of the Wesleyan Conference for more than fifty years, and was chosen in 1846 the president of that assembly. ”

“ To the end of his life Everett remained a minister of this community, filling their pulpits as health and opportunity permitted. He lived for some years in Newcastle, and finally in Sunderland. He wrote many articles for magazines and printed a few poems. In July 1865 his wife died, leaving no children. Everett had formed a large collection of methodist literature, both printed and in manuscript. ”

“ JACKSON, THOMAS (1783–1873) , Wesleyan minister, born at Sancton, a small village near Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, on 12 Dec. 1783, was second son of Thomas and Mary Jackson. His father was an agricultural labourer. Three of the sons, Robert, Samuel, and Thomas, became ministers in the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion. Thomas was mainly self-taught, being taken from school at twelve years of age to work on a farm. ”

“ In the discussions on the polity and position of Methodism which took place immediately after Wesley's death, Atmore bore a leading part, and his influence and prudent counsels largely contributed to the consolidation of the Wesleyan methodist church.
His ministry until 1825 was exercised in the following towns: York, Edinburgh, Halifax, Bristol, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Wakefield, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Salford, Sheffield. In 1811, while stationed in Hull, he was elected to the presidency of the Wesleyan conference. ”

“ He had a deep-rooted antipathy to hierarchical assumptions, and in the controversies which agitated the methodist community he always took the liberal side. His strong sympathy with the weak and the oppressed occasionally led him into error. ”

“ There Lords Liverpool and Teignmouth, William Wilberforce and the elder Macaulay discussed their benevolent schemes, and there the first meetings of the British and Foreign Bible Society were held. Butterworth liberally supported many philanthropic and christian institutions. ”

“ He took peculiar delight in the sacred literature and languages of the East, and most of his works related to these subjects. During several years of feeble health he lived at Caen and Paris, and availed himself of their libraries for carrying on his favourite studies. ”

“ A transference of his societies in Yorkshire and Lancashire to the Moravians was effected in July 1742. Ingham still laboured, like George Whitefield, as an evangelist at large, and was recognised as a chief pastor among the churches which he had founded. It was through him the Moravians obtained their settlement at Fulneck, near Pudsey, Yorkshire, in 1744. For a time they paid him a yearly rent for the land, and built upon it an extensive range of houses and shops. ”

“ In 1818 he went into business on his own account, obtained the appointment of law publisher to the queen, took a leading part in the management of the Stationers' Company, and became the chief London law publisher. ”

“ While in Macclesfield his wife died. When stationed in London he married his second wife, Lucy Hine of Kingsland Crescent, in October 1805. He was at this time appointed the first missionary secretary. ”

“ He died at Sunderland on Friday, 10 May 1872.
His works are: 1. ‘History of Methodism in Sheffield and its vicinity,’ vol. i. 1823. 2. ‘History of Methodism in Manchester and its vicinity,’ pt. i. 1827. 3. ‘The Village Blacksmith: Memoirs of S. Hick,’ 1831. 4. ‘Edwin, or Northumbria's Royal Fugitive Restored,’ a metrical tale of Saxon times, 1831. 5. ”

“ John Wesley in 14 vols.,’ 8vo, London, 1829–31; ‘John Goodwin's Exposition of Romans ix., with two other Tracts by the same,’ 8vo, London, 1834; ‘The Christian armed against Infidelity,’ 24mo, 1837; ‘Memoirs of Miss Hannah Ball,’ 12mo, 1839; ‘A Collection of Christian Biography,’ 12 vols. 18mo, 1837–1840 ”